Plough drive unit for longwall mining

ABSTRACT

A mineral mining installation with a scraper chain conveyor guiding a plough alongside a mineral face. The conveyor has a drive station at one end having a frame with side wall members accommodating a drive drum for the chains of the conveyor. The side wall members are received between apertured vertical webs forming part of a further frame supporting the plough drive means. The side wall members and the webs are detachably interconnected with bolts. The further frame is generally Lshaped with a vertical wall adjoining the webs and a horizontal wall bearing the plough drive means and being slidably guided on a bracing beam.

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ilted Sates at 1 1 9 Rassmann et al. Feb. 27, 1973 54 PLOUGH DRIVE UNITFOR FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS LONGWALL MINING 708,679 5/1954 GreatBritain ..299/34 [75] Inventors: Christoph Rassmann, 4628 Lu e 932,4557/1963 Great Britain ..299/34 Willy llleyer, 463 Bochum-Gerthe;

Dieter Stuckmann, 4714 Selm, all of Primary Examine, EmeSt R. PurserGermany Attorney-Chittick, Thompson & Pfund [73] Assignee:GewerlrschattEisenhutte Westfalia,

Westphalia, Germany [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Sept. 8, 1971 A mineralmining installation with a scraper chain [211 App 178 615 conveyorguiding a plough alongside a mineral face.

The conveyor has a drive station at one end having a frame with sidewall members accommodating a drive Foreign Application Priority Dam drumfor the chains of the conveyor. The side wall Nov. 14, 1970 Germany ..G70 42 204? members are received between apertured vertical webs formingpart of a further frame supporting the [52] US. Cl ..299/34 plough drivemeans, The side wall members and the In. webs are detachablyinterconnected bolts The [58] Field of Search ..299/32, 34, 43

further frame is generally L-shaped with a vertical wall adjoining thewebs and a horizontal wall bearing the [56] References cued plough drivemeans and being slidably guided on a UNITED sTATEs PATENTS bracmg beam.

3,488,094 1/ 1970 Ostrop et a] ..299/34 5 Claims, 2 Drawing FiguresPATENTED 3,718,368

\NVENTQR ATTORNEY PLOUGI-I DRIVE UNIT FOR LONGWALL MINING BACKGROUND TOTHE INVENTION The present invention relates to a mineral mininginstallation, and more particularly to a coal mining installation.

Mining installations for the automatic winning of coal are known whichconsist of a conveyor lying alongside the coal face to be won and aplough guided on the conveyor. The conveyor is provided at one or bothends with drive stations with drums which drive the circulating scraperchain or chains. The or each drive station has a motor with associatedgearing to drive the drum and is usually sited at the side of one of theconveyor side walls. The plough drive is usually completely separatefrom the conveyor drive and as a rule is also disposed laterally of theconveyor. The plough drive has a final chain sprocket for circulatingthe plough chain along the mineral face side of the conveyor.

This arrangement is relatively bulky and necessitates a relatively longplough stall. Also in cases where the plough is to be removed the ploughdrive has to remain in the installation.

Various other constructions for the drive stations have been proposedbut none of these constructions has been wholly successful in mitigatingthese disadvantages.

A general object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmining installation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there isprovided a mineral mining installation comprising a scraperchainconveyor disposed alongside a mineral face, a plough adapted to movealong the mineral face side of the conveyor, drive means for driving theplough along the conveyor, a first frame accommodating a drum aroundwhich the chain or chains of the conveyor are entrained; and a furtherframe affixed to the plough drive means, the first and the further framebeing detachably secured to one another with the plough drive meansdisposed outwardly beyond the first frame relative to the conveyor.

The plough drive means can be arranged sufiiciently far from theconveyor drive drum to enable the mineral to fall between these parts.

It is especially advantageous to construct the further frame as anL-shaped frame with an upwardly extending portion carrying couplingpieces for connection to the first frame by means of bolts extendingtransversally of the conveyor.

The further frame can have a horizontal portion which supports theplough drive means, said horizontal portion being guided on a bracingbeam extending substantially perpendicularly to said conveyor.

A preferred embodiment of the invention provides an especiallyadvantageous construction as will be described hereinafter.

The invention may be understood more readily and various other featuresof the invention may become more apparent from consideration of thefollowing description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of an installation made inaccordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the installation depicted in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawing, a mineralmining installation has a double-chain scraper conveyor 10 disposedalongside the mineral face to be won. A plough (not shown) is guided formovement along the conveyor 10 to detach mineral from the face in theknown manner. At one end of the conveyor 10, where a heading or roadwayadjoins the mine gallery, there is provided a conveyor drive stationcomposed of a frame 11 having side members 14 adjoining the conveyorside walls. The side members 14 accommodate a drum 12 therebetween andthe chains 13 of the conveyor 10 are entrained around the drum 12. Theside members 14 project outwardly from the direction of the conveyor 10and a plough drive means 15 is attached to these members 14 in a mannerwhich will now be described.

More particularly, the plough drive means 15 is supported by an L-shapedframe 16 affixed there to. The frame 16 has an upwardly extendingportion and a horizontal portion. The upwardly extending portion of theframe 16 is reinforced with a vertical plate 17. The plate 17 is in turnattached to two pairs of vertical apertured webs 20. Each pair of webs20 form a coupling piece 18 receiving the end part of one of the sidemembers 14 therebetween. The end parts of the side members 14accommodated in the coupling pieces 18 are similarly apertured so thatthese components can be interconnected by means of transverse bolts 19.The frame 16 is thus detachably secured to the frame 11 and theconstruction set forth provides an exceptionally rigid connection.

As shown in FIG. 2, the frame 16 also serves to mount the drive means 15and the frame 11 on a bracing beam 21 extending substantiallyperpendicularly of the conveyor 10. The horizontal portion of the frame16 carries guide elements 22 which are slidably guided on the beam 21 atboth sides thereof. The beam 21 can be braced in known manner by thesetting of hydraulic props 23 between the floor and the roof of theroadway.

If conditions dictate that the plough be removed, as

. for example where a different form of winning machine is to be used,then the plough drive 15 and its frame 16 can be readily removed fromthe installation by unfastening the bolts 19. Where the plough is used,however, the plough can be moved at least right up to the conveyor drum12. Consequently the plough stall can be substantially shorter than isotherwise necessary.

We claim:

1. In a mineral mining installation comprising a scraper-chain conveyordisposed alongside a mineral face, a plough guided for movement alongthe mineral face side of the conveyor, means for driving the plough, anda drive station for the conveyor with a frame with two side wallmembers; the improvement comprising a further frame affixed to theplough drive means, the further frame being detachably secured to theside wall members of the first frame and disposed outwardly relative tothe conveyor therefrom.

2. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the further frame isgenerally L-shaped with an upwardly extending portion carrying couplingpieces for connection to the first frame by means of bolts extendingtransversally of the conveyor.

3. An installation according to claim 2, wherein the further frame has ahorizontal portion which supports the plough drive means, saidhorizontal portion being guided on a bracing beam extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to said conveyor.

4. An installation according to claim 1, wherein the further frame isgenerally L-shaped with a horizontal portion supporting the plough drivemeans and an upstanding portion reinforced by a vertical plate, thevertical plate carrying pairs of apertured webs, each pair of websforming a coupling piece for receiving the ends of the side wall membersof the first frame therebetween, said ends being similarly apertured sothat said ends and the coupling pieces can be connected together withbolts extending substantially perpendicularly to the conveyor.

5. An installation according to claim 4, wherein the horizontal portionof the further frame has guide elements which serve to slidably guidesaid further frame on a bracing beam extending substantiallyperpendicular to the conveyor.

1. In a mineral mining installation comprising a scraper-chain conveyordisposed alongside a mineral face, a plough guided for movement alongthe mineral face side of the conveyor, means for driving the plough, anda drive station for the conveyor with a frame with two side wallmembers; the improvement comprising a further frame affixed to theplough drive means, the further frame being detachably secured to theside wall members of the first frame and disposed outwardly relative tothe conveyor therefrom.
 2. An installation according to claim 1, whereinthe further frame is generally L-shaped with an upwardly extendingportion carrying coupling pieces for connection to the first frame bymeans of bolts extending transversally of the conveyor.
 3. Aninstallation according to claim 2, wherein the further frame has ahorizontal portion which supports the plough drive means, saidhorizontal portion being guided on a bracing beam extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to said conveyor.
 4. An installationaccording to claim 1, wherein the further frame is generally L-shapedwith a horizontal portion supporting the plough drive means and anupstanDing portion reinforced by a vertical plate, the vertical platecarrying pairs of apertured webs, each pair of webs forming a couplingpiece for receiving the ends of the side wall members of the first frametherebetween, said ends being similarly apertured so that said ends andthe coupling pieces can be connected together with bolts extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to the conveyor.
 5. An installationaccording to claim 4, wherein the horizontal portion of the furtherframe has guide elements which serve to slidably guide said furtherframe on a bracing beam extending substantially perpendicular to theconveyor.